Taylor’s ‘Looks Like Hell,’ Owner Says

Taking a stroll through downtown Chester and stopping for a cool treat at Taylor’s Ice Cream Parlor is part of the summer tradition for residents and tourists alike.

But those who were hoping Taylor’s would be open for business this summer after the fire that gutted the store on March 8 are going to be disappointed.

“Even if the work started today it would take five or six months to be completed,” said owner Ron Klein. “And that would put us into the fall or winter.”

And according to Klein, the work isn’t being started today or anytime soon.

“This whole situation is really frustrating. I can’t get an answer from anyone on when work will be started,” Klein said. “Our landlord is not on top of anything. Every time we speak I get different answers or no answers. Our construction company has yet to get permits for the work, and I have received no cooperation from the town.”

Klein said that landlord Gil Taylor chose Harrington Construction to do the work on the building and that the Long Valley company has had difficulty with the architect and the engineers.

“Everyone says its someone else’s fault. The architect says it’s the insurance company, the construction company says architect or says it’s the town,” Klein said. “And its hard because I am the one person who has no say in this, and I am the only one suffering.”

Klein said the 10 weeks since the fire has been a nightmare.

“It looks like hell. My store actually looks worse today than it did the day of the fire,” Klein said. “The insurance company made us take all our equipment out and put it in storage. In order to do that they had cut apart our counters.”

Klein said there is a huge pile of debris on the side of the building that was never cleared up.

“It’s a hazard,” Klein said. “I am afraid of people walking around could get hurt, and I would be liable.”

Klein said the situation has also been hard on his 10 employees because he has no answers on when they might open again.

“I don’t know what to tell them. Should they get other jobs? I don’t know what to say,” Klein said. “I try to not get too upset but somebody has to do something. Not only have we lost months of business, we are worried about our employees.”

Alternate Plans

Not one to rest on his laurels Klein says he has explored many options to get his business open faster, but each time he has run into road blocks.

“We had one suggestion from one of the insurance agents that we move into a trailer. But that wouldn’t work for us,” Klein said. “So we looked into other locations in Chester.”

According to Klein, they even explored the old Sub Pub location.

“We would have had to have some remodeling done and we received a verbal quote of $25,000,” Klein said. “When we went to apply for the temporary permit, the quote jumped to $64,000.”

Klein said they explored some of the other empty storefronts in town, but those locations never had licenses for food, and Klein said he was concerned borough officials would delay the process.

“The town isn’t business friendly to begin with. Before the fire I got a nasty letter in the mail saying our outside sign was illegal and I had until Feb. 25 to remove it. I had the sign in place because the other sign was larger and hung out into the road. I called the town to see if there was a problem with me replacing it,” Klein said. “They never even called me back. We put it up a year ago March and almost a year later I get a . I called the mayor about it, and he never even returned my calls.”

Klein said there is not much he can do but continue to make calls and try to speed along the process.

“This is our busy season and we won’t be open. We need help to get things moving,” Klein said. “And not just for us. We are a part of the community. We sponsor sports teams, donate to the churches, the schools. Anyone who asks.”

For now, Klein is living off of business interruption insurance, but said that is only half of what it should be due to more clerical slow downs.

“We submitted everything we were supposed to and suddenly it isn’t good enough, we send more documentation and that is not good enough,” Klein said. “It has turned out to be a nightmare. What one woman with a few candles can do.”

Calls to Harrington Construction and Gil Taylor were not immediately returned.